Most fresh red meat, fish, and poultry products sold in retail markets are packaged in trays formed from wood fibers, paperboard, plastic foam, or thermoformed plastic sheet material. The trays are not transparent and therefore cover and obscure the consumer's view of the packaged product. Attempts have been made to provide transparent windows in the tray, but the windows typically expose only a minor amount of the product. Even where transparent film would otherwise have exposed one side of the product, printed indicia, labels, and the like have prevented an uninterrupted view of the packaged product.
Another major disadvantage of prior packaging of meat products is that such packaging has almost universally been of irregular size and shape. Because of the irregular shape and size, packages currently in use are difficult to stack and display. Indeed, the shapes of such prior packaging require that such packages be displayed in horizontal display cases. These refrigerated cases are inefficient, costly, and difficult for consumers to access. Thus, both producers and consumers prefer packages of uniform shape and size that are much easier to pack and inventory.
Accordingly, it is an object of the presently disclosed subject matter to provide a unique article that does not obscure the customer's view of the packaged product and that is capable of stacking.
Meat color is also an important characteristic of packaged meat products that affects merchantability. Particularly, consumers often use color as an indicator of meat quality and freshness. The color of meat is related to the amount and chemical state of myoglobin therein. Myoglobin is present in the muscle tissue of all animals and functions to store and deliver oxygen by reversibly binding molecular oxygen, thereby creating an intracellular source of oxygen for the mitochondria. Pork and poultry typically contain lower amounts of myoglobin compared to beef and thus are lighter in color.
Myoglobin includes an open binding site called “heme” that can bind certain small molecules, such as molecular oxygen or water. Particularly, the color of a meat product changes based on the amount of myoglobin present and the amount and type(s) of ligand molecule(s) bound to the heme binding site. For example, myoglobin without a molecule bound to the heme site results in a purple-colored molecule called deoxymyoglobin. Further, when oxygen binds to the heme pocket, purple deoxymyoglobin becomes oxymyoglobin, characterized by a red color. In addition, when a water molecule binds to the heme site, the myoglobin molecule turns brown and is referred to as metmyoglobin.
In packaging of fresh red meat products, it is common practice to initially cut and package the meat at a processing facility for subsequent shipment to retail outlets. If meat products are packaged such that ambient air is contained within the article, meat discoloration can result, caused by the conversion of myoglobin to a grayish or brownish metmyoglobin. The discoloration generally renders the meat product unacceptable for consumers. In addition, such exposure to ambient air can ultimately result in spoilage of the meat. To overcome the discoloration problem, meat can be contained in a modified atmosphere package (“MAP”), wherein gases with little or no oxygen are used in the package headspace. Low oxygen MAP results in meat with a purple color due to myoglobin reducing to deoxymyoglobin.
In the past, the goal of central fresh red meat processing has not been achievable because most consumers prefer to buy meat that is reddened in color (“bloomed”) as a result of exposure to oxygen. However, the meat maintains its reddened color for approximately one to three days and, thereafter, turns a brown color which is undesirable to most consumers.
Accordingly, in some embodiments, it is an object of the presently disclosed subject matter to provide an article that allows for blooming at a desired time.